We managed to get up on time this morning, mainly because neither of us actually had much sleep, the joys of jet lag. Our pick up was at 8.15 and frustratingly it was for a 9.45 ferry from Pier 6. If our documentation had mentioned that we would have made our own way as we could have done that in 30 minutes by walking to the Kowloon Ferry terminal and then taking the Star Ferry across which docks at Pier 7. Although we did get to experience rush hour on our journey through the cross river tunnel. The ferry crossing took about 35 minutes and then our group (11) got on another bus. First stop was at a small beach, mainly I think because it has proper washrooms with flushing toilets so that the women could visit them. Lantau Island (apart from the area which has the airport) is fairly rural and sparsely populated compared to HK and Kowloon with no high rise buildings. A lot of it is national parkland for hiking etc. We drove up into the hills and passed the reservoir for the island although the water level is fairly low and they now take a lot of their water from the Pearl River, looking down from the reservoir is a high security prison situated in the bay, every room with a sea view. Next stop was at the small fishing village of Tai O we walked through the very quiet fish market and we had a brief boat ride to see the local houses on stilts in the water. Then it was on into the hills again to see the big bronze Buddha on Ngong Ping plateau, it was the largest bronze Buddha status until a couple of years back when the Taiwanese built a bigger one. Still it was pretty impressive and there are great views from the top. We now have extra Buddha pictures to add to our collection of those taken in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, in fact I think we have enough pictures of Buddha now. We had a vegetarian lunch at the restaurant at the temple complex but they had conveniently built a small complex of shops which included a Starbucks and Subway if you needed coffee or meat. From there we should have taken the cable car down the mountain but they are having to replace the cables so it was back on the bus which took us to the cable car terminus which is in Tung Chung which has high rises, malls etc. It was then back to Kowloon. Overall it was an OK trip, not the best day out but worth seeing just to experience a very different side of Hong Kong. I am glad we have stopped here en route but I think 4 days is enough and I don't feel the need to visit again.

We were dropped off at our hotel and had a cup of tea and then headed out at just gone 17.00 to walk to the Temple Street night market and also to get something to eat. The news at 17.00 or 09.00 in the UK mentioned some flight disruption at Manchester due to snow but according to a message Fiona got from Huw there is about half an inch of snow if that. It has been warmer and sunnier her today and most importantly it has been dry.

So we walked from the hotel down Mody Road and down to Nathan Road and then up that to Temple Road. A piece of advice to anyone coming to HK, unless you actually want a hand tailored suit made by an Indian get a sign printed with "F. Off I don't want to buy an f'ing suit". I have lost count of the number of business cards people have thrust at me.

The Temple market was better than the Ladies market, a greater of variety of goods, again the usual fake watches and bags. F did buy a bag after testing a few out, the quality varies of course and so it pays to look around and of course haggle. F led the way in walking and at one point took us down sex toy alley. An hour later we decided to walk back to the waterfront and watch the Symphony Of Lights laser and lights and music show which is on at 20.00 every evening for 20 minutes, after that we had something to eat and that was the end of the day. Hopefully we will actually sleep tonight. We need to check out by 13.00 so after that we are going to catch the ferry and go in search of the mid-levels escalators. We are being collected at 18.00 and the plan is to get a shower at the airport and also a meal so that we can get some sleep once our flight departs at 21.30. We are due to arrive in Auckland at 13.30 and so there is an additional 5 hour time difference to contend with.